When first-class postage jumped from 5¢ to 6¢ in January 1968, the Post Office needed a new definitive fast. This stamp was the answer: issued eight months into that rate, it carried more American mail than almost any other stamp of the late 1960s.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

• Catalog Number: Scott #1338A / Michel #941C / Stanley Gibbons #1321

• Denomination: 6 cents (6¢)

• Date of Issue: August 12, 1968

• Printing Method: Photogravure (Rotary Press)

• Perforation: 11 × 10½

• Color: Red, Blue, and Green

• Subject: United States flag flying over the White House, Washington, D.C.

CONDITION ANALYSIS (Seller-Assessed)

• Status: Used

• Grading: Very Fine

• Postmark: Partial black machine postmark visible across the right side and lower portion. The flag, White House illustration, and denomination all remain clearly identifiable.

• Obverse: All major design features are intact throughout. No significant fading or surface damage observed.

• Reverse: No original gum present, as expected for a used stamp. Reverse appears clean with no visible tears, thinning, or repairs.

• Centering / Margins: Good. Margins remain clear of the design frame on all sides.

• Perforations: Intact on right and left sides, consistent with a coil stamp. No evidence of trimming, reperforation, or artificial alteration observed.

HISTORY

The U.S. Post Office Department raised the domestic first-class letter rate from 5¢ to 6¢ on January 7, 1968 - the first rate increase in five years. New definitives were needed quickly, and the Flag Over White House design was chosen to bridge the transition. Scott #1338A, issued August 12, 1968, was part of a group of 6¢ definitives released across 1968 to serve the new rate.

The design is a direct successor to the 5¢ Flag Over White House stamp, Scott #1208, which had served the first-class rate since 1963 and been produced on the Giori press. The 1338A uses photogravure rather than the Giori press intaglio process, giving the color reproduction a slightly different character — smoother gradations in the flag and building rendering rather than the sharp relief of engraved intaglio. Collectors of the Flag Over White House series note the distinction between the two printing methods across these companion issues.

The photogravure process, increasingly adopted by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing through the 1960s, allowed for faster production at higher volumes (a practical requirement for a stamp serving the nation's heaviest-volume postal rate). The 6¢ Flag Over White House was in circulation through one of the most turbulent years in modern American history: the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy, the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, and the election of Richard Nixon all fell within its first year of use.

STEVEN SAYS

The rate went to 6¢ in January 1968. This stamp came out in August of that same year. It was in the mail through the King assassination, the Kennedy assassination, and the Nixon election. That's a lot of history to carry on a 6¢ stamp.